Strategizing Systematic HIV Intervention: A Case Study

Abstract

For any intervention in public health, one needs to gather the evidence on the basis of which systematic plans and strategies can be built. In Rajasthan, for HIV and AIDS prevention, care and support activities apex organisation is Rajasthan State AIDS Control Society (RSACS). IIHMR, Jaipur, provided technical support to RSACS in targeted interventions, capacity building, strategic planning and public private partnership. In systematising the intervention with the sex workers living in district Sawai Madhopur, a situational analysis was carried out. The district is internationally known tourist place in Rajasthan and has remarkable mobility pattern among sex workers. It was found that in the district, the risk and vulnerabilities of sex workers has increased because of this mobility and illiteracy. It was reported that majority of sex workers in Sawai Madhopur knew that AIDS is not curable and the rest had either no idea or they thought AIDS could be cured. Amongst those who reported that they had no idea about the cure of HIV/AIDS, most of them were active sex workers. These active sex workers, hence, due to lack of awareness about STI, HIV and AIDS, were very vulnerable against HIV infection. Majority of the sex workers reported that they were not willing to use female condoms. Nearly half of the sex workers in Sawai Madhopur joined this profession as tradition of their families and caste. For HIV prevention and BCC, the better strategy is to use such IEC materials which contains pictures on various issues like condom negotiation, managing violence, sex workers collectives, correct and consistent use of condoms, STI, RTI, HIV and AIDS. Efforts should also be made to integrate the children from sex workers family into formal education process and, simultaneously, a little older children should be imparted skills in alternative trainings for joining other acceptable means of earning livelihood.